For starters, there is a direct flight from the Raleigh/Durham airport to London Heathrow. That's right, little ol' RDU will put you on a plane that goes straight to London.
So even before it began, my five-days-and-five-nights trip to Oxford and London was special. And after deplaning from the so-empty-you-had-your-own-row flight, the trip continued to be pretty freakin' wonderful:
- There was the all female cricket team playing in a park in Oxford.
- The two glorious meals of fish 'n chips, both consumed on the patio of a pub. (Why did I stop at two?)
- Can't leave out the cheese baguette sandwiches (four total) from Pret a Manger that I consumed during the trip. (And by cheese, I mean brie with basil and tomato, goat cheese with roasted asparagus, and cheddar with pickled, almost chutney-like relish.)
- Or the the two soft serve vanilla ice cream Flake cones I ate, the softest, most artificial vanilla ice cream with a truly delicious flaky piece of chocolate sticking out of the side. (Why did I stop at two? Especially when, as my dear friend Claire pointed out, it's kind of like eating air.)
- And even on the way home, the extra special-ness of the trip continued with my first alcoholic beverage on a plane.
(The story is that the little TV screen near me wasn't working and the flight attendants felt bad and comped me with some Baileys. Little did they know that if I angled my head a certain way and squinted, I could still make out most of "Marley and Me." Yes, it was god-awful. Yes, I cried at the end. Blame it on the 37,000 feet between me and the ground.)
And these are just a few of the things from my how-the-hell-did-I-get-so-lucky trip; the full report would include my first formal high table dinner at Lady Margaret Hall in Oxford, visiting the mecca that is Top Shop in London, and consuming the delicious mini cheese pizza they served on the plane ride home.
But, of course, like every trip, and like pretty much everything in life, it's all about the people that you're with: